snooker vs family problem

[dannyd0g]

I'm really looking forward to this years world championships, and have booked some time off work especially so I will be able to watch most of it.

However, my mother is over from Australia for a month at the same time, exactly overlapping the world championships. She will be staying with my Grandmother for most of that time. Of course i want to see her, as i havent seen her for a couple of years, but i also want to watch the snooker.

One of the first round matches i most want to see is Ronnie vs Ding. I really wouldnt want to miss a single frame. But my Grandmother is having a party the day before Ronnies match, and I have been invited to stay on for a couple of days after the party, meaning I would miss the Ronie vs Ding match. Although my mother knows i am a big snooker fan, I am not at all sure she will understand if i say that i cannot stay on afterwards at that time because i want to watch Ronnie O'Sullivan playing snooker !!

Does any one have any thoughts on this ? Am i just being selfish, or can i watch the snooker and avoid offending anyone if i handle it the right way ?

[Ellena]

I had probs like this too..especially when a tournament is on. And usually the ideal for me is not to miss a single match ,no matter who's playing, but most of all, Ronnie's matches. Of course that's not always possible , first of all cause of work and then cause of family issues of all kind. So i have to make concessions and i make them , but i not when it comes to Ronnie's matches , those are a must to see for me. So i give up watching other matches if necessary to be able to please everybody : me , family and sometimes friends. Guess i am lucky enough and my family understands me.
So the advice i can give ya is to find a way to do both, i am sure there will be such a way. ( Attend the party , then go for the Ron match , and then when you have some spare time and the match's not on , you can go visit your family again - )
AS for being selfish , its to much said , as long as you have the good will to do them both, there's no place for "selfish" . ( In a way we all are selfish when it comes to our passions. I wouldnt want to miss ROnnie-Ding match either , so i understand ya very well.)

[Nina]

Honestly, I don't see how a mother who hasn't seen her son in two years would be comforted if she was told he wouldn't stay with her for a couple of days, no matter what the reason! She may say she understands and perhaps even that she doesn't mind terribly, but...
If I were you, I'd get the snooker recorded and spend some time watching the matches and catching up on all the info during the time my mother would be busy or sleeping. It is only a couple of days after all.

If a golden medium exists, this is all I can think of...
Good luck with whatever you decide to do danny!

[dannyd0g]

Thankyou for your replies guys. You two could become an Agony Aunts double act. Although with the two of you having different opinions it doesnt help

But i needed honest answers and thats what i got. So its for me to sort out afterall, as it was all along.

[Q Ball]

If it was mother versus snooker, would pick the mother

If it was mother versus my beloved Liverpool on tv, mother can watch with me..lol or mother can make the tea or iron for me or run the bath
Football comes first...
Q

[Maija]

If this is THE match you don't want to miss, I'd suggest you simply say so, but make up for it by either coming there a couple of days earlier or returning to stay a few days later. On mums, generally speaking: If you are at all close with your mum she'll know that snooker is important to you and whilst she'll probably not be thrilled, she'll not want to stay in the way of something that is important to you and thus accept something in between. There's no fun in having a guest that would rather want to be somewhere else!

Ok, let's say that Higgins and Hendry would be playing, which would be THE match not to miss for me. I'd go fairly far not to miss it. Taping and watching later would not be an option, unless I was in the middle of giving childbirth or someone had died.

[Blondie]

Hi Danny,

Just a thought, and may even confuse things more, but if you are staying on for a couple of days after the party, why not invite your grandmother/mother to watch it with you on the television together? Could be fun, and at least you'd be able to watch the match, and spend time with your grandmother/mother as well.

Hmmm,..... good luck....

[rambon]

Hi Danny,

Just a thought, and may even confuse things more, but if you are staying on for a couple of days after the party, why not invite your grandmother/mother to watch it with you on the television together? Could be fun, and at least you'd be able to watch the match, and spend time with your grandmother/mother as well.

Hmmm,..... good luck....

Or, and here's a novel technological solution, set the video recorder while at your Gran's, record each frame, don't watch any highlights or go online, and watch the match in blissful ignorance on your return home (when you won't have to wait between the 9th and 10th frames....

(or get someone else to record in the scenario where your gran doesn't have a video)

(if you don't have a video then scrap this)

I still think you should follow Blondie's suggestion though and sit and watch it together, at least part of it. It's a well-known fact that all Gran's love snooker.

[Blondie]

Hi Rambon,

......agreed, you're right, all grans do enjoy watching snooker, although not sure if it's just the watching, or if they'd like to play a game too..

Great if there was a Grannie League, snooker is for everyone to enjoy..

[dannyd0g]

Thanks for the new replies. I was thinking along the lines of Maija - explaining that it is THE match i dont want to miss. And yes mum will not be thrilled but i think she will prefer that i watch it rather than be a miserable guest for missing it. However, if Ronnie does get through , i will ofcorse have the same problem on each of his future matches !! But I will cross that bridge if and when it comes up. No doubt mother would get very p*****d off indeed, if i kept saying for the whole 17 days, "nope cant make it today!!!"

Unfortunately my mothers mother is the exception to the Granny and snooker rule, as she hates all sports including snooker. (With my fathers mother it would have been different as she loved it and was a Jimmy White fan.) So it would not go down well to watch it there. Plus she hasnt got INERACTIVE FULL LIVE COVERAGE anyway.

Video is not an option, as it may either fail to set (seems to happen alarmingly often for some reason) or I would inevitably accidentally hear the news on TV or Radio if Ronnie was knocked out.

I know some people say that football is more important than life or death. But to me snooker is far more important than football.

[LoopySnooker]

If your grandmother doesn't like snooker and is unlikely to let you watch it at her place - (I know this will sound extreme) is there any chance you could take your tv (easier if it is a portable one! and you're driving admittedly!) there so you could watch the ronnie game in a different room. You'd still be there and would be able to spend time with your mother when the snooker isn't on but you'd still get to see that particular match. Obviously you'd have to take a freeview box and an aerial with you but needs must!

luckily (touch wood) I don't have that dilemna right now although I can imagine what you're going through!!

[ADR147]

Ding v Ronnie - I would skip my own wedding for that match!

[hegeland]

Now that Eurosport will start their live coverage at 10 am, and I have my school to go to, I usually record everything and watch/fastforward through later when I get home. It has worked great for me but I guess in Sweden it's a LOT easier to keep oneself uninformed about any results.

I have to say I would choose my mum (or any close relative I hadn't seen for that period of time) and it's not like you would have been there in person to watch it either.

Saying that, I know what you mean about watching sports at your grand-parents' house - it can be a a ticklish subject to say the least.

[ADR147]

I Guess I Am Lucky I Can Tell My Wife Watching Snooker Is Working - Also My Mother Would Want To Watch That Match!